The Travelling Quilt

Today is my last day on 52Q. I'm sad! I've really enjoyed this. But week 29 is over and now it's time to meet week 30! Before I pass the mic, I'd like to talk to you about travelling quilts.

I mentioned in my first blog post that joining the Saskatoon Modern Quilt Guild changed my life. I'm really serious about that. My confidence and skills have developed incredibly over this past year and a half. I'm so grateful to the guild. Plus they're just a bunch of cool chicks that are fun to be around.

Last September we began something called the travelling quilt. It's like a bee, except that instead of having one month where you receive 11 blocks from everyone, you send your starter block out for a year. It travels from member to member over the year, and when it comes back to you, you have 11 blocks made by fellow guild members. You pick a theme, colours you would like included, your big picture idea, whatever you need to explain your idea, make a starter block or couple blocks, and off it goes!

For example, Jaclyn's first travelling quilt had the theme 'seasons'. Whenever you got Jaclyn's travelling quilt, you were to make a block inspired by the season you got it. I got Jaclyn's travelling quilt in February, so I chose to make a Valentine's Day themed block. I made a circle of hearts (craftsy paper pieced pattern by @rightpatterns) and a heart arrow (craftsy  paper pieced pattern by @nightquilter).

My travelling quilt theme was stars. I love stars. Not just the shape, I love the stars in the sky, space in general. Anything to do with the cosmos. My husband and I are total space nerds. We have a telescope that we use to look at the stars and the moon and the planets and it's amazing. And so humbling. But I digress. I wanted my quilt to have stars all over it. But I was really busy and forgot we were starting the travelling quilt. So at 11:00 at night the day before the Saskatoon MQG meeting in which we were starting the travelling quilts, I put together this friendship star (not my favorite star block and definitely not my best work!).

Bad picture. Bad lighting. Bad block. But nonetheless I got my theme across. These are some blocks from my fellow guild members for my travelling quilt based on my star theme:

We have one month left for the travelling quilts round 1. Many other members have made me beautiful star blocks, I just don't have photos of them. I think it will be challenging to make all the blocks cohesive, but I will find a way! 

For round 2, which we started in March of this year, I think we all had a more clear picture of what we want for our next travelling quilt. This round, I asked for a block containing any of the following shapes: churn dash, flying geese, pinwheels, wonky star, plus or crosses. I wanted the background to be either low volume, or purple, pink or lime green. The shape was to be one of those colors (or low volume) as well. These two blocks were my travelling quilt round 2 starters. I'm loving what my fellow members have been doing! 

If you are part of a guild, you should consider starting a travelling quilt. It's so much fun! It can also push you out of your comfort zone in terms of color, shapes, styles, techniques. And getting out of your comfort zone is a great way to grow!

Thank you for following me for the week. Week 29 has been a ton of fun for me! If you like what you've seen this week, follow me on instagram, @graybie. Keep your eye on the #modernfabricpostcardswap hashtag to see all the beautiful postcards my swappers are making! Thanks again, have a great year :)